Joey holds off the field to win the Copart 300 Nationwide Series race

The Nationwide Series leader, Kyle Busch, had a bad day all around as he had to bring in a substitute driver on Lap 39 as he was fighting the flu and couldn’t continue. His substitute driver Denny Hamlin didn’t have any better luck as he collided with Greg Biffle coming off of Turn 4 on Lap 141 and had to leave the race with a car that couldn’t continue to race.

The racer just behind Kyle Busch in the Nationwide Series standings, Carl Edwards, finished third and moved to within 155 points of Kyle Busch, while Brad Keselowski finished fifth in the Copart 300 and moved to within 227 points of Kyle Busch in the race for the Nationwide Series title.

Controversy is swirling around the rumour mill about NASCAR analysing Greg Biffle’s radio conversations during the race. The contention is that he was actually silly enough to mention that he might put the No. 20 car into the wall when he got a chance. Unfortunately, according to sources, this was a lap before actually doing so. This all could be a coincidence or just rumour, but they’re looking into it, so there must be something in the story.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

Logano Wins Copart 300

Denny Hamlin relaxes after figuring out part of the puzzle, now for Sunday's race

There was a bit of controversy on this day as David Reutimann’s second-best time was thrown-away after NASCAR found that something was amiss with the settings on his rear shock absorbers during the inspection that’s normally conducted after all NASCAR Sprint Cup Competitions. David Reutimann will start 42 in Sunday’s Pepsi 500. Apparently, NASCAR took his shock absorbers in for a careful inspection and we’ll have more on this later. These unfortunate circumstances did allow Greg Biffle to move into the front row, so it wasn’t all bad. Behind him and Hamlin will be Jimmie Johnson and Juan Montoya, just sitting there waiting for their chance. Would you rather be on the pole or coming from behind in the upcoming Pepsi 500?

Martin Truex Jr. will start fifth and next to him will be Joey Logano, who is going to be my surprise pick for a good finish in Sunday’s Pepsi 500. Kevin Harvick and Clint Bowyer will start in the row behind Logano and Truex Jr. Mark Martin qualified ninth for this race, he currently leads Jimmie Johnson by 18 points for the Sprint Cup Series Championship. Jeff Gordon qualified 10^th for Sunday’s race, Carl Edwards 11^th, Tony Stewart 20^th, Kurt Busch 24^th, Kasey Kahne 25^th, Brian Vickers 32^nd and Ryan Newman 36^th.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

Pepsi 500 is Set for Sunday

Come on out for Fan Day and meet a few of your heroes

Also on Oct 14 at the same Roush Fenway offices, the Greg Biffle Foundation will be having a little get together for fans to come out and enjoy. If this sounds like something you want to check out, you can get more information on this event at www.gregbifflefoundation.com.

On a slightly lighter note, five NASCAR competitors have decided they are smarter than five graders and will be testing their smarts for charity against kids that have done their homework on the all new Jeff Foxworthy hosted edition of Are You Smarter Than A 5^th Grader. First NASCAR competitors David Ragan and Michael Waltrip are scheduled to test their smarts and see just how much they have forgotten since they left school. On Oct 26, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin will be testing their knowledge against five graders who like nothing better than showing how much they know. There will be a different twist to this classroom event though, since the competitors will also have the opportunity to get help from other 5^th graders sitting on the sidelines, and if the 5^th graders they’re facing are like the ones I know, these celebrities will need the help of the 5^th graders on the sidelines to stand a chance.

“Image: Zuma Press”

Post from: EveryJoe

NASCAR Gives Back to the Fans

Mark Martin looks as stunned at his victory as the other drivers

Fuel conservation again played a pivotal role in the final standings in the race as race leaders Jimmie Johnson and Greg Biffle misjudged the amount of fuel they had used during their battle and ran out of fuel in the final two miles of the scheduled 400 miles. Mark Martin on the other hand had been in fuel-conservation mode for a large part of the race, which included turning off cooling fans and units in order to save fuel, and resulted in his car having enough fuel to complete the last 44 laps. He crossed the line just 2.992 seconds ahead of Jeff Gordon, who also had enough gas to complete the race due to fuel conservation.

This victory was Mark Martin’s 38^th career win and moved him through the pack from 13^th to 8^th position in the series standings, just 321 points behind series leader Tony Stewart, who managed to finish seventh on Sunday. This is the third victory of the 2009 Sprint Cup season for Mark Martin’s No. 5 V Chevrolet tying him with Kyle Busch for the Cup Series lead.

Jimmie Johnson, who managed to lead the race for 146 laps and twice built up leads of more then seven seconds, managed to coast into the pit. After refueling, he drove around Martin’s car and crossed the finish line in 22^nd position.

Denny Hamlin finished third, just ahead of Carl Edwards in fourth, and Greg Biffle who grabbed fifth position, despite running out of fuel on the backstretch of the final lap. Juan Montoya finished sixth, Tony Stewart took seventh, Kurt Busch managed eighth, Brian Vickers survived to finish ninth, and the top ten was filled out by Clint Bowyer.

Image: Zuma Press

Post from: EveryJoe

Mark Martin Wins the LifeLock 400

Biffle’s No. 16 car posted the fastest time during the practice round, cutting up the Kansas Speedway at 167.385 MPH. Biffle is tied for second in the Chase standings, along with Johnson, who finished the practice round with a top speed of 166.528. Edwards posted the third-best top speed in the No. 99 car at 167.271.

So what are we looking at this afternoon? Well, the Kansas Speedway has been notorious for being extremely hard to win for those 12 drivers involved in the Chase. It’s all been almost expected to see a wreck that will impact the race standings. So, here’s my prediction. With the history of the track hard to ignore, I’m staying on the side of caution. Both Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart looked impressive in practice Saturday, however both are starting near the back of the pack. With so much to make up, I don’t feel comfortable choosing either as a hands-down winner. But I do feel comfortable picking either Mark Martin or Jeff Gordon.

Martin starts alongside Johnson on the front row after Montoya was disqualified. Gordon will start in the 13th position. Yet, it’s hard to ignore Biffle and his chase for a third-straight win. So, here are my top three finishers for today’s race. Gordon will win, followed by Martin and Biffle fighting for second.

Now, time to sit back and wait for that green flag.

Post from: EveryJoe

Camping World RV 400 Preview

10. Matt Kenseth – 22 races – Last Win: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Fall 2007
9. Jeff Gordon – 27 races – Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Fall 2007
8. Greg Biffle – 29 races – Kansas Speedway, Fall 2007
7. Tony Stewart – 36 races – Watkins Glen International, Summer 2007
6. Jamie McMurray – 40 races – Daytona International Speedway, Summer 2007

5. Martin Truex Jr. – 45 races – Dover International Speedway, Spring 2007
4. Kevin Harvick – 57 races – Daytona International Speedway, Spring 2007
3. David Ragan – 60 races – No NSCS wins
2. Brian Vickers – 68 races – Talladega Superspeedway, Fall 2006
1. Elliott Sadler – 141 races – Auto Club Speedway, Fall 2004

Post from: EveryJoe

List of the Week: Longest Winless Streaks Inside the Top 20

Lock of the Week – Tony Stewart – Top Five – 10 points
Sleeper Pick – Marcos Ambrose – Top Five – 10 points
Steer Clear of – Greg Biffle – Outside Top Fifteen – No points lost

Roc’s Picks (Watkins Glen):
1. Kyle Busch – 1st – 43 points
2. Tony Stewart – 2nd – 42 points
3. Denny Hamlin – 7th – 39 points
4. Carl Edwards – 10th – 37 points
5. Jeff Gordon – 25th – No points
6. Robby Gordon – 27th – No points

Lock of the Week – Jeff Gordon – Outside Top Fifteen – No points
Sleeper Pick – Robby Gordon – Outside Top Fifteen – No points
Steer Clear of – Kasey Kahne – Top Fifteen – (Minus) 10 points

Head-to-Head:
TZ – 219.5 points (3,597.5 cumulative)
Roc – 151 points (3,476 cumulative)

Do You NASCAR Fantasy League
Standings After Watkins Glen:
1. Dalli’s Mom
2. Vanilla Thrillaz
3. Bruce’s Team of Bits
4. TMAX Racing
5. Super Smokers
6. Team Legacy
7. raracing
8. AlexRyan
9. Jimmie’s Rockets
10. do you nascar

Post from: EveryJoe

Fantasy Follow-Up: Watkins Glen

Though they may not admit it, several drivers in the Sprint Cup garage area were probably a bit smitten when NASCAR was forced to cancel qualifying for the Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen International on Friday. The simple fact of the matter is that several drivers near the top at points are going to receive a better starting position that they likely would have, and while it still may not exactly give them a shot at winning Sunday’s race, it obviously provides a good path towards a better finish. That would be the guys like Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne who historically get left in a position where they have to work just a little harder to keep their Chase hopes alive after a long day of racing at Watkins Glen. And, as for guys like Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Kevin Harvick – drivers that are typically considered to be among the favorites to win anytime we go road course racing – they should be just as happy that there was no qualifying on Friday – or, at least they almost were.

Per the NASCAR rulebook, no qualifying means that the field will be set based on car owner points from top to bottom with the small caveat of the past champions provisional to be taken into account. Now, that was almost enough to keep the road course ringers from making their way into the show, but because Ron Fellows is replacing Regan Smith for DEI and PJ Jones is driving the no. 96 HOF Racing entry this weekend, both drivers had enough owner points to receive the opportunity to run on Sunday. Max Papis and Marcos Ambrose almost missed the cut as well, but with only 45 entries, they managed to squeeze by as well.

The two cars that failed to “qualify” were Brian Simo and Boris Said, both considered to be road course specialists. This marked the second year in a row that Said showed up at Watkins Glen only to watch Mother Nature end his weekend before he ever even started the engine ….. and, it was also the second year in a row that a veteran driver climbed out of their car to make room for Said’s talents and expertise. Last year it was Bill Elliott stepping out while Boris drove the no. 21 Wood Brothers car to a 14th place finish. This year, it was Kyle Petty sacraficing his no. 45 Petty Enterprises car – 40th in owner points – to give Boris yet another break.

“Boris is known around the world as one of the premier road-course racers,” said Robbie Loomis, vice president of operations at Petty Enterprises. “He’ll give us another great opportunity to assess our program. Everyone at Petty Enterprises is grateful to Boris for helping us out.”

Post from: EveryJoe

Cup Qualifying Canceled; Said in the Show Despite the Rain

Teams Without an Assigned 2009 Driver:
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. – No. 01 car
- Penske Racing – No. 12 car
- Stewart Haas Racing – No. 4 car
- Dale Earnhardt Inc. – No. 15 car
- Joe Gibbs Racing – No. 20 car
- Wood Brothers Racing – No. 21 car
- Bill Davis Racing – No. 22 car
- Yates Racing – No. 28 car
- Richard Childress Racing – No. 33 car
- Furniture Row Motorsports – No. 34 car
- Chip Ganassi Racing – No. 41 car

Drivers Without a Definitive 2009 Ride:
- Regan Smith
- Casey Mears
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Dave Blaney
- Travis Kvapil
- Tony Raines
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- JJ Yeley
- Johnny Sauter
- Jeremy Mayfield
- David Stremme
- Jacques Villeneuve
- Kenny Wallace
- Ken Schrader
- Ward Burton
- Dario Franchitti

Post from: EveryJoe

Silly Season Tracker – Updated 8/8

This week NASCAR heads to Waktins Glen International for one of their two road course races of the season on the Sprint Cup Series schedule. The race comes just one week after NASCAR made history for itself when they raced in the rain last Saturday in the Nationwide Series in Montreal, which most critics feel came off as a huge success. As of right now there are no plans to break out the rain tires on Sunday, but there’s still plenty to look forward to with just five races remaining until the cutoff for the Chase.

Recent Winners:
2007 – Tony Stewart
2006 – Kevin Harvick
2005 – Tony Stewart

Recent Polesitters:
2007 – Jeff Gordon
2006 – Kurt Busch
2005 – “Rained Out”

the Usual Suspects:
Tony Stewart is in the midst of the longest winless streak in his Sprint Cup career, but that should be of little concern to the no. 20 team this weekend. ‘Smoke’ built up a bit of momentum for himself after a 2nd place finish last week at Pocono, and now he heads to Watkins Glen where he holds the best driver rating over the past 3 years and has the second best average finish amongst active drivers. He’s one three of the last four races at the Glen, along with a 2nd place finish in 2006.

The only driver to breakup Stewart’s winning streak at the Glen in the past four years was Kevin Harvick, the winner of this event in ‘06. In his seven career races at Watkins Glen, last year’s 36th place finish is his only run outside of the top-15. He also has four top-10’s in that span ….. Jeff Gordon is considered a threat to win at most tracks, but perhaps even moreso at road courses. Once dubbed “King of the Road”, Jeff has had a rough go of it with only one top-10 finish here since 2002, but he did win 3 of the 4 events prior to that stretch ….. The series points leader, Kyle Busch, was never thought of much as a road course racer heading into this season, but already in 2008 he’s managed to win the Nationwide Series race in Mexcio and then went onto win the Toyota Save/Mart 350 at Infineon. After a 33rd place run at Watkins Glen in his rookie season, Kyle has since rebounded with back-to-back top-10’s ….. Denny Hamlin has run here only twice, finishing 10th and 2nd in those races.

the Unusual Suspects:
Robby Gordon has been in dire need of some good runs for the sake of his own race team, Robby Gordon Motorsports, and many fans have long expected that success to come at one of NASCAR’s two road course events. Robby has six top-5 finishes in eight races run here, and even won the event while racing for RCR back in 2003. He currently has a string of three consecutive top-5 finishes at Watkins Glen.

Marcos Ambrose competed in his first Sprint Cup event earlier in the season at Infineon. Known for his road course specialties, Marcos didn’t disappoint, as he had a great top-five effort going until issues late in the race put an end to his day. This will be his first visit to Watkins Glen with the Cup Series as he once again fields the no. 21 Wood Bros. Racing entry, but there’s no reason to think he won’t rise to the occasion once again ….. Juan Pablo Montoya is always a favorite to keep an eye on at road course races as well. An incident with Kevin Harvick here last year put an early end to his day and he finished 39th, but that should be considered a one-off deal. He does have an Infineon win to his credit at the Cup level.

Road Course Ringers are sure to be a factor in any NASCAR road course race, regardless of the series. Though they don’t typically win these things at the Cup level, many of the drivers leave their mark with exceptional runs. Amongst the ringers included in this weekend’s entry list are: Ron Fellows (DEI) – two top-5’s in the last 4 years; Boris Said- finished 3rd in 2005; PJ Jones – finished 4th in 2002; and Brian Simo and Max Papis are on the list as well.

the Unusual Slackers:
Greg Biffle picked up his first ever top-10 Watkins Glen finish last year when he crossed the line in 10th, but each of his four starts previous to that were 30th or worse. His overall average here is 30.2 ….. When you think of road course racing, Kurt Busch isn’t a name that immediately jumps out at you as someone you need to avoid carrying on your fantasy roster, but like Biffle, he also has only one career top-10 at Watkins Glen. Four of his seven races here he has finished outside of the top-15 ….. Dale Earnhardt Jr. managed to put together a string of solid runs here at one point, finishing 3rd, 5th, and 10th from 2003 to 2005, but in 8 years of racing here, he’s finished 35th or worse three times, holding an average finish of just 20.6.

Best Driver Ratings:
1. Tony Stewart – 137.9
2. Denny Hamlin – 112.1
3. Jeff Gordon – 108.2
4. Robby Gordon – 106.3
5. Jimmie Johnson – 104.5

Best Driver Averages:
1. Scott Pruett – 5.8
2. Denny Hamlin – 6.0
3. Tony Stewart – 6.1
4. Mark Martin – 8.8
5. Robby Gordon – 9.4

Watkins Glen Facts:
- 8 of the 25 races at Watkins Glen have been won from the pole position. The last driver to do so was Tony Stewart in 2005, but before that it hadn’t happened since Jeff Gordon did it in 1998.
- 16 of the 25 races have been won from a top-five starting position.
- The deepest starting position a driver has ever come from to win at Watkins Glen is 18th. Steve Park did it in 2000.
- Jeff Gordon holds the track record for most wins with 4.
- Mark Martin holds the track record for most poles (3), top-five’s (12), and top-ten’s (16).
- The most different leaders ever during a race at the Glen was 12 – back in 1995.
- Chevrolet leads the manufacturer race at Watkins Glen with 14 wins.
- 5 drivers currently in the top-12 in points have never led a lap at Watkins Glen: Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Kasey Kahne, and Clint Bowyer.
- In the midst of a 35 race winless streak, Tony Stewart’s last victory came here at Watkins Glen in 2007.

Video of the last 7 laps of the 2007 Centurion Boats at the Glen race:

Six-Pack Challenge:
Winner – Tony Stewart
2nd Place – Robby Gordon
3rd Place – Marcos Ambrose
4th Place – Kyle Busch
5th Place – Carl Edwards
6th Place – Kevin Harvick

Lock of the Week – Tony Stewart
Sleeper Pick – Marcos Ambrose
Steer Clear of – Greg Biffle

Post from: EveryJoe

Race Preview for Centurion Boats at the Glen at Watkins Glen